From the Archives

A New School, A Familiar Name

Back to school brought the opening of a new Leander ISD campus at the corner of Halsey Road and San Gabriel Parkway. The Ada Mae Faubion School for Early Childhood welcomed its first cohort of three- and four-year-old students this fall.

For those who have lived in Leander for any length of time, the name Faubion is a familiar one. The Faubion family arrived in the Leander area in the 1850s, and their roots remain firmly planted in the community today. The name is also familiar to generations of Leander students through Faubion Elementary, which closed its doors for the final time at the end of the 2025–2026 school year after educating Leander children for fifty years.

Both schools carry the name of Ada Mae Faubion, a beloved Leander educator who taught third grade from 1935 until her retirement in 1974.

There’s also a fascinating connection between the new school and the Faubion family’s history. The early childhood campus sits on what was once part of the family’s property, originally known as Oak Grove Farm. Less than half a mile from the historic Faubion farmstead, the campus occupies land where the family once grew hay for their cattle and planted corn.

More than 170 years after the Faubions first arrived in the Leander community, a new generation of Leander children is beginning its education on land that was once part of their farm.

It’s a wonderful reminder that even as Leander grows and changes, its history remains woven into the places where we live, work, and learn.